2007-02-21

I tried today to remember the Greek alphabet. It shouldn't be too awfully hard for me: mathematics and physics use Greek letters all the time. But suddenly when it came down to it today, I fell a little short. (Of course, it didn't help that I couldn't remember how many there were: 22 seemed the right number). These are the ones I could remember:

α Alpha

β Beta

γ Gamma

δ Delta

ε Epsilon

η Eta

θ Theta

κ Kappa

λ Lamda

μ Mu

ν Nu

ξ Xi

π Pi

σ Sigma

τ Tau

φ Phi

χ Chi

ψ Psi

ω Omega (paradoxially the last one I could recall)

And then there were the 5 I couldn't remember:

ζ Zeta

ι Iota

ο Omicron

ρ Rho

υ Upsilon

On the bright side, the final tally (24 letters) was within 2 of my surmising (22), and within 3 (27) of the Greek guy I asked at work today, who apparently doesn't know his own language as well as I do.